An amusement park worker was arrested after three people were hospitalized in North Carolina. The lead iten is that a punk poet died A man was arreseted after a Brooklyn stabbing. Oh, there were other stories around; but you can’t fool an Irving press editor with trivia. So those other
Continue readingAuthor: Graeme Decarie
The Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 27: A Sunday Sermonette – sort of –
– but we won’t be having any pancake breakfast or pie sale, so it isn’t a religious sermonette. I notice, too, that readership is up today. That’s because yesterday was a nice day. Today is a stinker. (That just goes to show how writing a blog can make one cynical.)_________________________________________________________________________But
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 26: Fear, Hatred and Hysteria
It was just a little story in yesterday’s paper, so the the full meaning of it didn’t hit me when I read it. Remember how David Alward said the blokade at Rexton was an “armed camp”?. Yesterday, the precise number of arms was revealed. It was three guns. Hundreds of
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 25: there are two…
count them, two important and well reported stories in Section A. (Okay. It’s not great. But it’s two more than usual.) One is actually on page 1, “Chief calls for consent.” It is an account of statements made by Chief Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations. The reporter is Brent
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 24: Oh, grow up…
Today’s editorial is, I am sure, a sincere one. That’s why is so disheartening to see it is also such a childish one. The editorial writer is disgusted that a political party, the Green Party, has called for an inquiry into the RCMP action in Rexton. In its thrilling and
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 23: Enforce the law!
Damn right. Enforce the law! That’s why we should be closely examining the oil train accident that killed 47 people in Lac Megantic. That’s why Professor Lapierre should be facing charges for accepting payment under false pretences – as in his years of university teaching and in his special contracts.
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 22: The importance of editors
In the news business, the editor is the key person. Editors are the ones who mold kids out of journalism schools into real reporters. Editors are the ones who select which stories are the ones that are important. Editors are the ones who make sure that each story gives the average
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 21: Alec Bruce’s column is brilliant…
This must be the first column I have seen in the Irving press that has a sense of the whole story – in this case, of the violence at Rexton. This is really quite exceptional, and captures points the reporters, for the most part, have missed. And, certainly, the editors
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 20: just a few thoughts on a Sunday…
I’m still bothered by a statement that appeared in the TandT two days ago, the day Rexton made world news. It referred to certain, heavily-armed people there as para-militaries. Now, it is a safe bet that most people don’t know what a para-military is, and a safer bet that nobody knows
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 19: decent reporting…
…lousy editing… As a day’s newspaper rolls out, editors (are supposed to) look it over, see if the stories have any areas that still aren’t sufficiently explained, then go over it with reporters to be covered in their assignment for next day. I really don’t know whether the editors at
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 18: A society in decay….
It’s too early to decide who was to blame for yesterday’s violence at the anti-shale gas group. The available reporting on it, though quite good, is still vague on some points. (The TandT reporters seem to have done a good job on this story so far.) The problem is that
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 17: You know it’s a slow day when…..
.. the big story, the page one, banner headline, is about a boy who once got lost in Moncton, and now, fifty years later, has come back for a visit. Wow! A world scoop for the TandT. Eat your heart out, New York Times. On page A6, there’s a big and
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 16: sigh……
It’s not that there’s nothing in the TandT today. That, after all, is standard practice. They don’t mention that the UN investigator has made it clear we can expect a very negative report for the whole world to read on our treatment of native peoples. I never thought the TandT would
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 15: Unfinished business…
Let’s start with a letter to the editor, “Don’t confuse them with facts.” This is a type of letter that has appeared many times in the Irving press. The writer accuses anti-frackers of not knowing the facts; but he gives an amazing display of his own, crashing ignorance. In fifty years of fracking,
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 14: The biggest news story ever…
I’ve put off writing this for two days. I still can’t work up any joy at getting started on it. Today’s newspaper has one item in it worth reading – Steve Malloy’s column on functionl illiteracy in this province. This isn’t just a minor issue. It’s a major reason why
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct.12: one million Candians depend on food banks…
..and food banks in New Brusnwick are facing an increasing demand. You can find both stories if you look hard enough through today’s back pages. Canadian poverty, if still below US levels, is rising. But it’s hard to find the stories hidden away like that – and they don’t really
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 11: The cowboy singer and the Irving press…
Damn, damn, damn. I have finished a whole blog – and accidentally deleted it. Damn. OK. Here goes again. But I’m not happy.____________________________———————————— The tradition of the the singing cowboy came to us in the early days of “talkies” with singing cowboy starts like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. But
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 10: the enemy is us…
I am beginning this post on Wednesday evening because I shall be busy tomorrow, starting the first of a series of six classes (How to Understand the News) for Tantramar Seniors. I can start early because there is a huge story breaking – and I feel confident it will not
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 9: A new TandT face on p.1…..
…at least I cannot remember seeing it before. But oh, this new face will fit right in with the Irving press. His name is Michael Woloschuk. and he writes with a sense of his own superiority, looking down on lesser people, sneering at them (nothing crude, just gentle sneers as befits a
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Oct. 8" Let’s not talk about the Irving press…
The rain has stopped. The sun is coming out. The TandT is its usual, wretched self – except for NewsToday. It is so good, it is almost mediocre. But let’s be positive today, and talk about principles.What are they? Why do we need them? You’ll find principles expressed most commonly
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